Ayelet Samerano, whose 21-year-old son, Yonatan Samerano, was shot by Hamas terrorists and kidnapped by an UNRWA social worker on October 7, 2023, is relieved that her desperate calls for action are finally being answered.
“Today we see the results of our hard work,” she told JNS after the Knesset two laws passed that on Monday made it illegal for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to operate on Israeli soil, and for Israeli officials to cooperate with the UN agency.
Samerano spoke to JNS on Monday evening after speaking at an Oct. 7 memorial ceremony at the Park East Synagogue, a Modern Orthodox congregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“We are very happy that we have succeeded and that UNRWA is finally leaving Israel,” she said.
More than 600 people attended the event, which the Israeli Consulate General in New York organized together with the Israeli-American Council. The Israeli Ministry of Defense and the La’Aretz Foundation also collaborated on the event.
Samerano, the former hostage Mia Sem and Avi Harush, the father of fallen Israeli soldier Rif Harush, addressed attendees at the event, which was held five days after the anniversary on the Hebrew calendar of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in southern Israel.
“I hope everyone who listens to me takes this perspective from Yonatan: that you can achieve anything with a smile and a little charm,” Samerano told JNS. “I believe this is the best wish for the world: that we try to smile and talk even with our enemies.”
Samerano told JNS that she believes her son is still alive, 388 days after he was taken to Gaza as a hostage.
Many of the speakers shared moving testimonies, bringing tears to many audience members.
In Hebrew, Shem went into painful detail about her experiences at the Nova music festival, where she was kidnapped, and her time in captivity, during which she was held in an underground cage without air for 55 days. (A live translation of Sem’s comments projected on a screen.)
“A year ago, I was a 21-year-old girl who just wanted to dance,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’m not that girl anymore.”
“A year has passed. My body is here, but my innocence remains in the fields of blood, and my heart remains trapped in Gaza, with those five young women still held there – abused and exploited, without air, in the depths of hell,” she said .
Harush read to the audience from a note he found in the pocket of the uniform of his son Rif, who had enlisted in the IDF two months before October 7.
“Why am I risking my life?” Rif wrote. “People have done it before and will continue to do it in the future. I do it for the older woman who thanks me, who cries and says, “Thank you.” I do it for my family, so that they feel safe and protected and so that they know that there is a huge army behind them that will watch over them as long as we are on our feet.”
‘We are winning’
Ofir Akunis, the Israeli consul general in New York, told JNS after addressing the audience that one of the most important messages of the evening was “never forget.”
“To the American people, remaining naive and innocent in the face of pro-terrorist organizations will harm your society, not just ours,” Akunis, who assumed his role in May, told JNS.
“This threat impacts not only Jewish communities, but the United States as a whole,” he said. “The Iranians have launched more than 180 ballistic missiles at our citizens, so we will continue to protect ourselves.”
“We are winning, and we will hold on until we defeat Hamas and Hezbollah, just like America defeated Al-Qaeda,” he told JNS.
Before the ceremony, guests viewed a photo exhibition titled “Our Hope Lives On: In the Eyes of Heroes,” honoring reservists who this year paused their lives to serve in the war against terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.
The thirty soldiers portrayed in the show were each photographed twice: once in color, working on previous roles as photographer, cook and violinist, and once in black and white, looking solemnly at the camera and expressing seriousness of their sacrifice.
“We are here to honor everyone affected by October 7” and “to express their support,” Vivace Maxvictor, a resident of Iran, told JNS in the exhibition.
“I grew up with terrorism so I have huge, huge personal experience with it,” she said. “My condolences, my heart, go out to all those affected.”
Elan Carr, CEO of the Israeli-American Council, in his remarks honored the sacrifice of heroes like Rif and called for the release of all hostages.
“We will never forget the sacrifice of Rif and of all our heroes, the lions of Judah, who fought and are still fighting,” Carr said. “A year later, our hostages remain in the hell of Hamas captivity. Mia, thank God you’re here, but we demand the release of them all; they all need to come home now.”
“A year later, the Islamic Republic of Iran is still threatening our destruction,” he said. “For those of us here in the diaspora, yes, a year later we are still facing and fighting a relentless wave of anti-Semitism that has engulfed our streets, our communities, our campuses and our schools.
“We commemorate events that are still with us, still present,” he added.
Mark Seitelman, a lawyer, told JNS that he attended “in solidarity with our Israeli brothers and sisters and to show support and love for them.”
“We won’t forget you and we have to take care of you,” he said. “We must care for the injured and prevent further terrorism.”
Eliyahu Elijah Collins, a Hebrew Israelite leader whose appointment last year was to a Conservative synagogue in New Jersey drew criticism of leaders of the Conservative movement, told JNS that he was there to show support and solidarity.
“We’re here as a demonstration of the fact that we stand with Israel, and we want to make sure it’s clear that they have our support,” he said. “By participating, I hope it illustrates that while this is a tragic event, it can be a catalyst for unity and, hopefully, bring Israel together around the world.”
The event included musical performances by Israeli artist Yagel Oshri, a rendition of “Hatikvah” by the Park East Day School Choir, a prayer for the well-being of the State of Israel led by synagogue cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot and a group recitation of the Kaddish. led by the shul’s leader, Rabbi Arthur Schneier.
Samerano was the last speaker of the evening. She urged attendees to continue fighting for the release of the hostages and to hold accountable those who participated in and incited the October 7 horrors.
‘My Yonatan was unarmed. His only weapons were his charm, luck and joy,” she said, as images of her son’s brutal kidnapping played behind her. “But Yonatan was shot by terrorists and kidnapped. A social worker, an employee of an organization that is supposed to help humanity, kidnapped my son.”
“For Yonatan, everything he dreamed of – no matter how difficult – was within reach, because he believed in taking that first step and trusted that the rest would follow,” she added. “To those with the power to make decisions: may you adopt his philosophy and bring him, and all the hostages, back home.”
